Goodwood festival fo speed review

In just eight years, the Goodwood festival of Speed has become the biggest historic motorsport event in the world. The annual festival on the drive of Goodwood House in Sussex is a huge celebration of the sport, spanning every conceivable era. Last year more than 100,000 fans visited the event, taking the unique opportunity to get close to the stars and cars.

Held over July 6-8, it regularly attracts some of the great heroes as well as their cars, reuniting many of them during the competitive element of the weekend more than 200 will tackle the hillclimb course. Each year, the event marks anniversaries of notable achievements, and that is particularly the case in 2001. The centenary of Mercedes-Benz and Ford Motorsport will be celebrated, and an area in front of Goodwood House will be dedicated to Mercedes.

Examples of the great Silver Arrow cars will be on display W125, W163, W165 and W196 along with the Avus Streamliners, SSKs, 300SLs and SLRs. Around 20 cars will be coming from the company’s museum. Ford, meanwhile, will display everything from the Frontenac racer based on a Model T, through to the current Jaguar R2. Ten important DFVpowered GP cars will be on show. The 90th anniversary of two legendary sporting events the Indianapolis 500 and Monte Carlo Rally will be marked. The inaugural Indy winner, the Marmon Wasp, will be making its first trip outside the USA, and Indy winners Bobby Rahal, Bobby Unser and Danny Sullivan will be there.

The rallying element will have everything from Erik Carlsson’s 2-stroke Saab to Sandro Munari’s Lancia Stratos, right through to current World Rally Cars. Other celebrations include 50 years since Jaguar’s first Le Mans win, 50 years since Ferrari’s first championship F1 win, 40 years of Brabham cars and 25 years since James Hunt’s world title. All will feature appropriate cars and drivers, while Phil Hill will be there to mark 40 years since his world title. Other famous names expected to attend include Niki Lauda, Carl Fogarty, John Surtees, Stirling Moss, Riccardo Patrese, Arturo Merzario, Darrell Waltrip, Junior Johnson, Jean Ragnotti and Rene Amoux. Current F1 drivers attending will be Jenson Button, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Rubens Barrichello. PL